Allotment update

[buzzingtalk]

I have been hard at work the last two months clearing and digging my plot...and it's coming along nicely. The front section has even been raked over to a fine tilth and is ready for design and planting when the time comes! I am slowly working my way down towards the back, digging over...but am making slow progress at the min as I have hit a very large patch of old carpet/wood/massive brambles. Dug out a bramble today that went 1m down and the whole lot of it was the size of a bin!! Got the 4 biggest ones up today, now I ache, but going back tomorrow for 2 hours to potter about, move shade material around and have a tidy up as there are mountains of rubbish to go to the tip, and roots/weeds that need to be burnt when the weather dries up a bit

Now it is starting to look like an allotment and not a rubbish tip, I am finding it hard to visualize where everything will go. I am pants are drawing and my spacial awareness is great in real life but does not translate well to paper...so I'm asking you all, how did you plan your plots? Mine is long and thin (5x40m approx)...am thinking of having some raised beds in the front third as I have the materials ready, then open ground for the back 2/3rds...how does this sound? will 1.5m or so wide beds on open ground be OK (will have a path going down the middle)? If anyone can recommend a website that will help point me in the direction of planning it would be great. I have written out lists of what i'd like to grow, what family it is in and where it fits into crop rotation...plus I have written down what permanent planting i want to do (quite a bit will be permanent - I want a lot of fruit!)

I will post pics soon, it really looks so different to when I got it...I wish I had more time off work to get down there! A few hours a day makes all the difference I just want to crack on with planning now so I have something to do when its dark or the weather is awful.

[alldigging]

I started at one end and worked my way across the top half. The bottom bit is a bit random cos I got some pallet collars and used them.

This is a pic of mine from the top corner I worked my way across to. The beds were decided on mostly by how much I could dig before I got to clay.

I'd got one bed ready and planted it before I moved on to the next.
It is all made up on the go - no proper plans drawn really.
I left the worst bit of plot til last to dig too.

[SarzWix]

I just drew my plot on a piece of squared paper, marked where permanent things like the gate and existing fences were, and then worked out where I wanted things like compost bins and shed (the most shaded areas) and then drew in paths first so that I had direct routes from the gate to the compost and shed, and then slotted beds in the gaps. Don't make the beds so long that you'll walk over them instead of going round them, and don't make them so wide that you can't reach the middle; and those measurements will be personal to you Also might be wise to measure the legs of your wheelbarrow, and make sure your paths are wide enough to accommodate them; nothing worse than the wheelbarrow toppling over into a freshly weeded/planted bed!

[Samurailord]

What I did was to have an overall vision which I then tried to replicate on paper.

During this process I soon discovered several drawbacks to my original plan - the shed would throw shade on my neighbour's plot, the compost pile was in the most inaccessible corner, and the paths weren't wide enough to accomodate a wheelbarrow.

Plans were duly changed. and I started with the actual building of the raised beds, etc.

Flags were laid as paths (which fixed the width between beds to 24") and a serious waterloggiong problem caused yet another change.

An allotment plan is a live, organic thing which develops and changes as you come across problems (or opportunities) as you work your plot.

Once the infrastructure is all in place you will be pretty much set, so until then make plans, but don't be afraid to change them (often several times in one day!)

Andy

[buzzingtalk]

Thanks for the replies everyone

What do you make your paths out of - I need it to be cheap/free preferably, I can get big bits of black plastic for fairly cheap, and I have a large van so its a matter of finding a tree surgeon with some chippings to donate

For the back 2/3rds of plot that will be open ground it is harder to decide. I was thinking of having a raspberry bed along my fence I'm putting in (can support raspberries along the wires) then a path wide enough for barrow, but then it leaves about 2.5m which is far too deep - but if I space things out well I guess I could use rows and step between them using a plank. It's a long and thin plot and I can't afford to do the lot in raised beds (plus I wanna make maximum use of space. Is there anyone who can recommend me something to read, a website or book perhaps, on old-style open ground production? A lot of recent stuff is geared towards raised beds.

[Veg newbie]

have you tried DT Brown's planner? it is free for 30 days and might help you plan it out. After you get it planned let you subscription expire as they don't take any card details

D T Brown Vegetable Garden and Allotment Planner

[hamesy]

have you tried DT Brown's planner? it is free for 30 days and might help you plan it out. After you get it planned let you subscription expire as they don't take any card details

D T Brown Vegetable Garden and Allotment Planner

I was about the suggest the same thing. Took me a couple of hours to knock up a plan, that includes drawing out paths and existing beds etc. Highly recommend it.

[KittyColdNose]

I stood and stared trancelike at the garden for a long time, picturing where things were then scribbled the plan on an envelope. If I had an allotment I know I would be more organised but it works for me just now.

[out in the cold]

I stood and stared trancelike at the garden for a long time, picturing where things were then scribbled the plan on an envelope. If I had an allotment I know I would be more organised but it works for me just now.

To be fair, "trancelike" is a normal state for you. Or to put it another way, "away in a wee world of your own"...

[SarzWix]

Do I take it you two know each other then? Or do I have to put my Mod hat on and tell you off for being rude?

[KittyColdNose]

It's ok, I can reach over and bat his ears from here. Tis my oh

[Aberdeenplotter]

I don't think it is rude Sarz. In our local tongue, I think he is saying she is awa in a dwam. Another member relatively close to me though. That can only be good

[SarzWix]

I was only joking AP, t'were obvious from their location (and IP address) that they were in each other's general vicinity

[Aberdeenplotter]

where you finding the IP address? That part of your mod armoury? Stop banned folks re-registering with new names etc?

[out in the cold]

We have been married for 10 years. Only been gardening together for about 18 months though. (Well, mainly KCN, but I get to help her)